I got my dates completely mixed up and was sitting on the beach in Bali, when someone I know over there, sent me a text and asked if I was leaving the next day.  It was a Tuesday and I sent a text back to say, no I wasn’t leaving until Thursday morning.  However, this got me thinking. ….. I rode back to the hotel on my motorbike thinking that I must check my ticket and hoping that I wasn’t leaving the next morning as I needed a lie in.  When I arrived I was shocked for see that my flight left that night, in only 3 hours time.  I quickly packed, went to get money to pay the bill and organised transport to the airport. In the end, I just made it to my flight.

Unfortunately, I flew with Virgin Australia, who aren’t the best.  I also had a stopover in Melbourne for 4 hours.  I arrived in Auckland at 4pm knackered. I had searched every camper van company and tried to book lots and lots, only to be continually told that they were fully booked.  Eventually I found a company with a van and booked one for a month.  I expected the van to be crap as it was the only one still available in New Zealand, but when I arrived at the camper company (Wicked Campers), it was worse than I had expected.

The company don’t supply bedding, so I needed to buy it. They spray the outside of the vans with really crap stuff … I have seen one with Popeye’s forearm and ‘wanking champion’ written on the side of the van.  Mine just had the Hulk on one side and something else I can’t remember on the other.  They also encourage people to write stuff all over the inside.  The vans a really badly equipped, but I wasn’t prepared for how shit it would be.

They don’t insure you to drive the vehicle, they state that you need to check the oil and water every time you fill up with fuel and they state that you can’t drive between dusk and dawn because you might hit an animal on the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I collected the van at and left their office at about 8pm in the middle of a dodgy Aukland suburb and had to go and buy bedding.  I found a shopping centre with some shop selling bedding and bought what I needed.  I had no idea of where I was and it was 10pm, the equivalent of  4am in Bali and I was jet lagged.  As well as being jet lagged, I was wound up by the experience of the crap vehicle and had trouble getting to sleep, so I took a valium and parked in the shopping centre car park.  I fell into a deep sleep and was woken 45 minutes later by a loud knocking on the van.  I opened the door to see an enormous Maori security guard who said I had to move in spite of me pleading to stay.  I had no idea where I was going, so I just drove until I saw some flat ground by the side of the road.  I parked up and got a few hours sleep.

When I woke I was so pissed off, I drove to the van rental site and demanded that I had another van.  They explained that they didn’t have one and that I’d forfeit $3,000 for the whole month as there was no refund on cancellation. After discussions, they agreed that they were short of a van in 1 week, so I took the van for a week and was refunded for the remainder of the time.

Ultimately, I had a great week in the north of the North Island and I got used to the van.  I got really weird stares from everyone, but I actually found the van OK.  The stunning scenery  took my mind off anything else I think … A happy ending :).